Photo: Ford
On this day in 2012, the world of cars and motorized sports sadly lost a legend. Carroll Shelby passed away on May 10th nine years ago, and Ford head honcho Jim Farley couldn’t miss the opportunity to pay a little tribute to the Le Mans-winning driver and designer on Twitter.
Although unrelated to Carroll Shelby, one of Jim Farley’s followers asked the chief exec if the Ford Motor Company will ever roll out a Bronco with all-electric propulsion. The reply, as expected, confirmed the inevitable: “Why do you think we don’t [have an all-electric Bronco in the pipeline]?”
The aggressive push for electrification mirrors Jim Hackett’s view on the automotive industry. The preceding CEO of the Ford Motor Company is the guy who confirmed the Bronco PHEV in May 2019 at the Annual Meeting of Shareholders, but the eco-friendly powertrain still is nowhere to be seen.
Taking the Explorer PHEV as the yardstick, the plug-in hybrid may combine the 3.0-liter EcoBoost V6 twin-turbo engine with a 10-speed automatic transmission, electric motor, generator, and a 13.6-kWh battery. As far as the Ranger PHEV is concerned, word has it the plug-in hybrid workhorse is centered around the 2.3-liter EcoBoost of the outgoing Ranger.
As for the Bronco EV, the Blue Oval is probably waiting for Jeep to roll out the Wrangler EV before the grand reveal. That would buy the Dearborn-based automaker enough time to modify the electric motors and battery to dethrone the Wrangler EV, which has been previewed two months ago by the 285-horsepower Wrangler Magneto concept at the 2021 Easter Jeep Safari.
Ford may also take its time with the Bronco EV because of the F-150 Lightning, the most powerful F-150 yet. The dual-motor truck with independent rear suspension is confirmed to premiere next Wednesday at 9:30 pm Eastern Time. The F-150 Lightning clearly has priority over the electric utility vehicle because pickups are selling way better than SUVs.
The aggressive push for electrification mirrors Jim Hackett’s view on the automotive industry. The preceding CEO of the Ford Motor Company is the guy who confirmed the Bronco PHEV in May 2019 at the Annual Meeting of Shareholders, but the eco-friendly powertrain still is nowhere to be seen.
Taking the Explorer PHEV as the yardstick, the plug-in hybrid may combine the 3.0-liter EcoBoost V6 twin-turbo engine with a 10-speed automatic transmission, electric motor, generator, and a 13.6-kWh battery. As far as the Ranger PHEV is concerned, word has it the plug-in hybrid workhorse is centered around the 2.3-liter EcoBoost of the outgoing Ranger.
As for the Bronco EV, the Blue Oval is probably waiting for Jeep to roll out the Wrangler EV before the grand reveal. That would buy the Dearborn-based automaker enough time to modify the electric motors and battery to dethrone the Wrangler EV, which has been previewed two months ago by the 285-horsepower Wrangler Magneto concept at the 2021 Easter Jeep Safari.
Ford may also take its time with the Bronco EV because of the F-150 Lightning, the most powerful F-150 yet. The dual-motor truck with independent rear suspension is confirmed to premiere next Wednesday at 9:30 pm Eastern Time. The F-150 Lightning clearly has priority over the electric utility vehicle because pickups are selling way better than SUVs.
Why do you think we dont?
— Jim Farley (@jimfarley98) May 10, 2021
Miss you Carroll! We are trying our best to make Performance our Business! pic.twitter.com/kwH1OGBrIn
— Jim Farley (@jimfarley98) May 10, 2021
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